Transcripts For MSNBCW The Last Word With Lawrence ODonnell 20200624

Now its time for the last word with lawrence odonnell. Good evening, lawrence. Good evening, rachel. We have breaking hopeful news from major league baseball. They have scheduled a season, according to the commissioner, that will start approximately one month from today. Its kind of approximate, because, you know, its something they hope to do. But things could get in the way between now and then, so there might or might not be major league baseball. Well kind of know when we get there. It will be an unusual season no matter how it turns out. I feel like every plan in my life has that asterisk on it right now. Like, im thinking that at some point ill need to get new contact lenses in approximately 110 days. I dont know, maybe i can start wearing them for three days at a time. I feel like even the most basic things that require the least amount of planning at this point cant be planned. One of the obvious big planning questions thats on peoples minds, are the kids going back to school . Who is going back to school in august . And at the hearing today in the house, with the members of the president s Coronavirus Task force, they didnt really have an answer. I mean, the best Anthony Fauci could do is to say, well, in some places that will be reasonable. He didnt say which places. But you couldnt make you could listen to every word of that hearing and you couldnt come out of that making a plan to do anything. No. And in part, thats responsible, because i mean yes. Reasonably you could say yeah, in any community where your case curve looks like a mountain, yeah, you could probably start making plans for what you can do in an environment where theres baseline very low amounts of coronavirus and where its a small enough amount of virus circulating in the community that any time it does flare up, you catch it with testing and you suppress it. But if your coronavirus case curve where you live looks like this, which is what it looks like overall for the country, then no, no point making plans. Because theres nothing that we can plan to do that were not doing already thats going to be safe. And its thats just the National Failure under which were under which all of our lives sort of proceed at this point. And thats where we will be for a while. Thank you, rachel. Yeah, thanks, my friend. Thank you. Well, were keeping an eye on primary Election Results in kentucky tonight and elsewhere. Steve kornacki will join us later in the hour with updates on all of that. And senator cory booker will join us and give us a report on the situation in the senate on Democratic Police reform legislation that he has coauthored with senator Kamala Harris. And well get senator bookers perspective as a member of the Senate Judiciary committee with jurisdiction over the Justice Department on this weeks shocking revelations about attorney general william barr, his interference with the roger stone sentencing and his interference with the u. S. Attorneys office in manhattan. Today, every member of the president s Coronavirus Task force who testified in that hearing in the house of representatives said that the president they work for is lying. Has President Trump ever directed you to slow down testing for covid19 in the United States, dr. Redfield . No. No, sir. No, congressman. I know for sure that to my knowledge none of us have ever been told to slow down on testing. Today donald trump said that white house staffers like the press secretary for example were lying when they claimed that he was joking when he told his rally audience on saturday that he wants to slow the testing down. Heres what donald trump said about that today. I dont kid. No, he doesnt kid. So thats donald trump saying that he meant every word of this. They called me, they said the job youre doing heres the bad part. When you test when you do test to that extent, youre going to find more people, youre going to find more cases. So i said to my people, slow the testing down, please. So now theyve all been accused of lying. The president has been accused of lying by dr. Anthony fauci and the other members of the Coronavirus Task force, and the president has accused the white house staff of lying about him telling a joke when he really meant very seriously that he wants to slow the testing down. It is possible that donald trump gave the order to slow the testing down to someone who wasnt testifying today, like maybe mike pence, or health and Human Services secretary alex azar. We dont know. Dr. Fauci said that Donald Trumps flying into coronavirus hot spots and holding rallies without social distancing and without masks is highly irresponsible. But he didnt actually mention donald trump when he said that at todays hearing in the house of representatives. You should not congregate in crowds. You should keep distance. And even though many people, for a variety of reasons, do not listen to the not suggestion but plea to not congregate in crowds. Some people are going to do that anyway. If you do, please wear a mask. And as you wear a mask and youre in a situation where youre getting animated in a demonstration or in a rally or wherever you are, avoid as best as possible the urge to pull your mask down and shout. So plan a, dont go in a crowd. Plan b, if you do, make sure you wear a mask. The only person in Donald Trumps crowd today who was social distancing was donald trump. There he is on stage in phoenix, arizona, speaking to a crowd of 3,000 students for trump, who were packed into that audience, shoulder to shoulder, with only a handful of masks spotted among the thousands. And when a couple of those students were allowed to come up on the stage with donald trump, they were not allowed to get anywhere near him. They were way more than six feet away. Way more than ten feet away. From the one person in that room today who fears the coronavirus more than anyone else in that room. Donald trump. That is a picture of donald trump in abject fear of the coronavirus. It may be the one rational fear that donald trump has. He did the right thing by keeping those kids very far away from him. But he did a profoundly cruel and inhumane thing by encouraging those kids to gather shoulder to shoulder, sitting before him in praise of him. Because he is americas dracula, who takes his sustenance from other people. The image of himself that he sees in the adoring eyes of his audience is what dracula trump so desperately needs to get through another day of the excruciating insecurity of being donald trump. A weight that he has borne with varying degrees of rage his entire life. If some of those kids get sick today, and if they go home and kill their grandparents, then thats what had to happen to make americas dracula feel good for 90 minutes on that stage today in arizona. A state where joe biden has a lead in the polls over donald trump, which is much, much more important to donald trump than the health risks to his audience or the deadly risk to their parents and the even more deadly risk to their grandparents. If some grandparents have to die for donald trump to catch up to joe biden in arizona, if some grandparents have to die for donald trump to help the incumbent republican senator close the 13point lead that democratic candidate mark kelly has in the senate race, then thats what Donald Trumps father taught him to call the cost of doing business. We have never before seen an american president willfully put peoples lives at risk, simply so that he can enjoy the sound of applause from the people whose lives he is risking and whose family and friends he is risking. Thousands of people who were not in that room today with donald trump now run the risk of being infected and possibly killed by people who were in that room today with donald trump. No previous president would ever have done Something Like that, and you must not allow the American News media to normalize these trump events for you as some kind of rerun of what we saw in the campaign four years ago. This is new. We have not seen this before. If the polls are right, joe biden will crush donald trump. And if were lucky, we will never see anything like this again. A president who risks the lives of his own supporters for his own profoundly perverse psychological needs. Donald trump arrived in arizona today. When he arrived, the state reported yet another record high for new coronavirus cases in a continued rise in hospitalizations. Today, arizona reported a new high, 3,593 new cases of coronavirus. Arizona now ranks 12th out of the 50 states for cases per 100,000 people. The state is now reporting 2,136 hospitalizations, up about 7 from the 1,992 reported on monday. And more than double the number at the beginning of the month. Hospital bed usage in arizona is at 83 . And intensive care unit use in arizona is at 84 . The republican governor reversed his position on face masks in arizona last week, allowing counties and cities to mandate face masks to residents. This statement was released before the trump event in the city today but a mask is an admission of vulnerability, as well as even more importantly, an expression of concern for other people. And americas dracula has never felt that concern. And never will. Leading off our discussion now, live from phoenix outside the mega church where President Trumps rally was held today is nbcs von hilliard. I know you were talking to a lot of the people attending today, and it looked to me, correct me if im wrong, something on the order of 95 or above without masks. The people without masks, what were they telling you about their sense of their own safety . Reporter its denialism, lawrence. I dont think theres any other way to put it. One person after the next that i talked to, i said are you not concerned about your own health . And they just flatout told me no, that they believe the covid numbers the government is putting out are inflated. They do not believe the number of deaths that they are seeing, that are being accounted for. And they dont believe that the spread has impacted them. And i think thats the reality. What youve seen over the course of just the last few weeks in the state of arizona is a doubling in the number of cases. You know, i cant help if one of these individuals hasnt been impacted. But the likes of lina washington, whose father robert washington worked at a casino here. When he returned to work on may 15th when that stay at home order expired, two weeks later he came down with covid and he passed away. He was just laid to rest this sunday. What you saw here were thousands of folks congregated into a pen. There was another compact line here. I think its important to note, and were talking about phoenix, were not talking about some desert wasteland. Were talking about the nations fifth largest city. And you said it. Today was a record for hospitalizations. A record for icu beds. A record for ventilators in use here in the state. Doug ducey himself, while he appeared here today, he acknowledged the need for arizonans to take this seriously. But what you saw was the president , four months out from this election, deciding to have thousands of people congregate around him, because as you said, its neck and neck in the polls here. Lets say michigan and pennsylvania go for joe biden. All it takes is arizona at that point. Theres a reason hes been here. Two times in the last two months, lawrence, and i think what you saw today was a willingness to do whatever it takes here. Von hilliard live from phoenix, thank you very much for that report. Really appreciate it. Reporter thanks. And joining our discussion now is dr. Ja, the director of the Harvard Global institute. And rick stengel is a former undersecretary of state in the Obama Administration and the author of information wars how we lost the global battle against disinformation and what we can do about it and the paperback is out this week. Dr. Ja, the message has not gotten across to those kids, mostly college kids, some High School Kids in that audience today, that they could go into that room of 3,000 today, they could pick up the coronavirus, they could never show a symptom and never feel even slightly sick, and they can go home and kill their grandparents. They dont seem to know that. Yeah, lawrence, thanks for having me on. There is, to me, this sort of there are two sets of issues here. Theres one around a campaign by i think a lot of Media Outlets and individuals to downplay this disease, to say its no worse than the flu, that all those deaths are made up and theyre not real. And some people of course believe that. The issue around young people getting infected, its true theyll then go on to infect others, but were also seeing young people are getting very, very sick and some of them actually die. So the idea that its completely safe for them is also a myth. This is also just very concerning to me as a physician and as a Public Health person. Lets take a look at what has happened to what donald trump said about wanting to reduce the amount of testing going on. Its already in a tv ad against him. Lets look at what the Lincoln Project did with that. Hey, donald, your Campaign Manager told you a million fans wanted to come to your first big rally. Turnout in tulsa, a dud. Youve probably heard this before, but it was smaller than we expected. It sure wasnt as big as you promised. Honestly, were not surprised. Weve seen that youre shaky. Cant keep your polls up. And its getting worse. You talk a big game. The event in oklahoma is unbelievable. The crowds are unbelievable. They havent seen anything like it. And cant deliver. Sad. Weak. Low energy. Just like your presidency. Just like you. Rick, we had the wrong ad there cued up for you. But they already have an ad out using those words, those infamous words that the president used about wanting the testing to go down. And those words are going to chase him all the way to election day. Absolutely. And the irony of all this, lawrence, is not so much that the testing shows who has the virus, but so many more people have had the virus because they havent been tested and we dont know about it. I was listening to the report and you were talking about young people giving it to their grandparents. I havent talked about this before, but my mother died about six weeks ago. She was 91 years old. She seemed perfectly healthy. The nurse called and says she seems to have pneumonia. By the time we got there, she was gone. Its undoubted that she probably died of coronavirus. One of her nurses tested positive for it later on. And shes not one of those 120,000 people that were measuring. There are many more people that have had the virus than we know about. And in fact the testing that we do is meager compared to what we need to do. There may be 50,000 tests a day, we need to be doing five or ten times that. Its a tragic thing were seeing. And we see a president who is colossally irresponsible, as you showed earlier. Rick, were very sorry about the loss of your mother. Sorry to hear about that. And doctor, what about that . This is one of the questions that came up in the house hearing today, how accurate do we think the death count is, and is it how are we recording the death count from this disease . Is there an undercount . And, you know, ricks mother is an example of what we know to be some of the undercount. Yeah. So, rick, also im really sorry for your loss. Thank you. I think unfortunately this is the reality that Many Americans are facing. I think most experts, dr. Fauci has said this in the past as well, believe and i believe that we have had a substantial undercount, that there have been a lot of people that have passed away. But because of our terrible testing infrastructure, we havent been able to identify them before they got sick and we werent able to test them after they passed away. And so this disease has taken enormous cost on the lives of americans, and the idea that we should somehow slow down testing as a way to help the numbers look better to me is astonishing. Thank you both for starting off our discussion tonight. Appreciate it. When we come back after this break, Senate Judiciary Committee Member cory booker will join us to discuss the state of policing reform legislation in congress, and the shocking conduct of the attorney general of the United States in the last few days that has gotten him a rebuke from the faculty of the law school he graduated from. Alike and customize your car te insurance so you only pay for what you need. Almost done. What do you think . I dont see it. Only pay for what you need. Liberty. Liberty. Liberty. Liberty. 1 in 3 deaths is caused by cardiovascular disease. Millions of patients are treated with statinsbut up to 75 persistent cardiovascular risk still remains. Many have turned to fish oil supplements. Others, fenofibrates or niacin. But heres a number you should take to heart zerothe number of fda approvals these products have, when added to statins, to reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease. Ask your doctor about an advancement in prescription therapies with proven protection. Visit truetoyourheart. Com for spending a perfectly reasonable amount of time on the couch with tacos from grubhub . Grubhubs gonna reward you for that with a 5 off perk. doorbell rings [crowd] grubhub fireworks exploding the question simply is this who do you trust on Police Reform in america, the naacp or Mitch Mcconnell . Who do you trust on Police Reform in america, the aclu or Mitch Mcconnell . Who do you trust, the Lawyers Committee for civil rights or Mitch Mcconnell . The reality is, the legitimacy of this process that we have been pushing all the time, asking for real reform, has been betrayed by what Mitch Mcconnell is doing through these procedures that hes set up to fail this moment, and that to me is unacceptable. Our next guest, senator cory booker, is the coauthor with senator Kamala Harris of the Senate Democrats Police Reform legislation. The current legislation is unacceptable and they want to work with republicans to try to develop bipartisan legislation. The traditional process for that would be having the Senate Judiciary committee, which has jurisdiction over law enforcement, Work Together to produce a bipartisan bill. Senator harris had this exchange today on the senate floor with a republican member of the Senate Judiciary committee, john cornyn of texas. We have asked that there would be a meaningful discussion of the justice and policing act in that committee. None has occurred. So if were going to talk about process, let us look at all the tools that are available to wellintentioned legislators if the goal is to address and solve the issue at hand. I see no evidence of that. What im trying to fathom, madame president , is why the senator would rather have these negotiations occur behind closed doors as opposed to hear on the floor of the senate for the American People to see broadcast on television. Indeed, that is the beauty of the Judiciary Committee. Our meetings are public meetings. Joining our discussion now is democratic senator cory booker. Hes a member of that committee. Senator, thank you very much for joining us tonight. Its so ironic to hear senator cornyn talk about something being developed behind closed doors. Correct me if im wrong, but isnt that the way the republican legislation was developed . Incredibly so, behind closed doors, thats the way they operate. You remember that toxic trump tax plan was done behind closed doors, not through normal process. So to get lectured by them about this being something that they are sincerely trying to do, to me is outrageous. Because ive seen this from the criminal Justice Reform legislation we passed to how Immigration Reform was done in the years before i came to the senate, when theyre serious about something, theyll put it through a committee or create a gang of eight or ten, youve heard of these before. Theres no desire to get something substantive done. Theyre pushing a bill on the floor that does not answer the demands of so many of the people out there on the streets that want to see an end to the killing of unarmed black people. Let me just be clear, it would not have stopped the awful practice, like our bill does, that got Breonna Taylor killed in her bed. It would not have stopped the choke hold that our bill bans that got eric garner killed. It would not allow George Floyds family to hold those officers accountable in federal court. These are all things they dont address. Our bill does. And its just so frustrating that theyre setting up the process to fail so they can turn the page and not rise to this moment in history. Senator mcconnell is saying just let us put the republican bill on the floor. You have enough votes to block them procedurally from getting the republican bill on the floor. Hes saying let us put the republican bill on the floor, and then its open to amendments. You can bring in the Booker Harris amendment to ban choke holds by American Police officers, and then its up to a vote in the senate, and 51 votes, it will go into the vote. Whats wrong with that approach . Well, every major Civil Rights Organization agrees with us, over 130 organizations signed on to a letter that this is a plan set up to fail, because what Mitch Mcconnell has said he would do is in the senate he would make a 60vote threshold for everything. That means we would need to get 14 senators to defect and do choke hold legislation, to defect to stop military equipment from being given to police departments. He knows he can stop those amendments from passing one by one by one by one. So its not a serious offer. He set the system up to fail. And getting on this bill, letting him go through this process to me would be an exercise in futility when hes preordained the result. So what were asking for is simply to allow us to come together, because there are republicans that have already one has introduced legislation on qualified immunity. Im having conversations with other ones about other things. I think if we sat down and started working on this, we could come up with a bill that honors the moment and creates real accountability in american policing. Yeah. Him imposing a 60vote asking for an agreement of a 60vote threshold makes amendments impossible. It doesnt seem like that long ago, but i guess it was when i was working in the senate and it took 51 votes to get your amendments onto a bill. So what about this other procedural possibility . Letting the republican bill go to the floor with a 60vote threshold, absolutely you wont get any amendments on that bill. But then it goes into conference with the bill from the house, nancy pelosi and the House Democrats bill, and from that, either something comes out the democrats vote for or it doesnt. Why not leave that negotiation to what is the Conference Committee to produce a bill that both bodies can vote on . Thats the point. If it went into the senate, we would have to vote it out. So he would have to get 60 votes in order to go to conference. Thats the absurdity of what hes proposing. Youre not going to get democrats in good faith to vote for a bill that doesnt address any of the issues that are core and purposeful to us. But you dont have to go to conference. Ive watched in the senate in the short six years ive been here so many what they call four corners negotiation. We did it on criminal Justice Reform. We had the white house at the table. We had members on the republican and democrat side of the senate. We had house members at the table. We all got together and hammered it out, because we all desired to get something done. So this idea that you have to go to a conference and have a negotiation is just wrong. I can tell you confidently that nadler, the head of this congressional black caucus, karen bass, they would love to get into a room and start to negotiate what real reform would look like. We do not need to go through these processes that Mitch Mcconnell is establishing to get into a room for negotiation. In fact, i dont think i can remember a time when democrats have pleaded this much to please sit down in a room and negotiate with us. What Mitch Mcconnell clearly wants to do is to turn a page and be able to point a finger of blame at democrats as opposed to accepting responsibility for what is really needed, which is not partisanship. Its to address a generationslong problem, that even king, when he stood on the march in washington, people forget in his i have a dream speech. He called out police brutality. From that to the kerner report, i cant tell you how many times this country has studied it, done reports on it, all the things republicans are calling for in their bill. People are not marching in the streets saying we want more data or more commissions. They say they want to stop police from choking them to death. They want to stop being profiled based on their race. They want to end noknock warrants. They want transparency in the police departments. And if a Police Officer does wrong, they want to make sure that federal authorities can prosecute them and they wont have impossible standards to reach. This is not that complicated. We can get this done if we sit together and have a real conversation about what will save black lives in this country. Senator cory booker, thank you very much. Thank you. I ran out of time to ask senator booker about the attorney generals conduct of the last few days, but we have a former assistant u. S. Attorney from new jersey who is now a member of the house of representatives joining us next. We will get her expert view of the attorney generals conduct. Hi. Uh, can you tell me how to get to i70, please . Ookay, are you ah, yes. Thank you. Switch to progressive and you can save hundreds. You know, like the sign says. For spending a perfectly reasonable amount of time on the couch with tacos from grubhub . Grubhubs gonna reward you for that with a 5 off perk. doorbell rings [crowd] grubhub fireworks exploding if your adventure. Keeps turning into unexpected bathroom trips. You may have overactive bladder, or oab. Not again were seeing a doctor when we get home. Myrbetriq treats oab symptoms of urgency, frequency, and leakage. Its the first and only oab treatment in its class. Myrbetriq may increase blood pressure. Tell your doctor right away if you have trouble emptying your bladder or have a weak urine stream. Myrbetriq may cause serious allergic reactions, like swelling of the face, lips, throat or tongue, or trouble breathing. If experienced, stop taking and tell your doctor right away. Myrbetriq may interact with other medicines. Tell your doctor if you have liver or kidney problems. Common side effects include increased blood pressure, common cold or flu symptoms, sinus irritation, dry mouth, urinary tract infection, bladder inflammation, back or joint pain, constipation, dizziness, and headache. Looking for a destination that isnt always the bathroom . Ask your doctor if myrbetriq is right for you. And visit myrbetriq. Com. Today, 65 professors and faculty members at George Washington University Law school expressed their contempt for attorney general William Barrs contempt for basic constitutional rights. Hes a graduate of George Washington University Law school. The Law School Faculty there today wrote, in a Public Statement that the attorney general has undermined the rule of law, damaged Public Confidence that the law applies equally and fairly to all persons, and demonstrated contempt for basic constitutional rights. In short, attorney general barr has failed to fulfill his oath of office to support and defend the constitution of the United States. In written opening remarks for his testimony tomorrow at a house Judiciary Committee hearing, federal prosecutor Aaron Zelinsky says when he was working on the roger stone case, there was heavy pressure from the highest levels of the department of justice to cut roger stone a break, and that the u. S. Attorneys sentencing instructions to us were based on political considerations. I was also told that the acting u. S. Attorney was giving stone such unprecedentedly favorable treatment because he was afraid of the president. Joining our discussion now, congresswoman mikie sherrill, a democrat from new jersey, a former navy pilot and a former assistant u. S. Attorney in new jersey. Congresswoman, thank you very much for joining us tonight. I want to get your reaction first of all to what is emerging as the testimony that were going to hear in tomorrows hearing about the attorney generals interference in the roger stone case. Well, as you mentioned, i was in the navy and ive served all over the world. Ive always been incredibly proud of our justice system, the impartiality of our justice system, free from political interference. Yet everything in zelinskys Opening Statement speaks to exactly what we everything against our values. So for those of you unfamiliar with sentencing guidelines, as youre an assistant u. S. Attorney, you look through the sentencing guidelines. Theyre fairly rigid, they lay out the case. Sometimes you have enhancements for bad behavior. So for example, what mr. Stone did, painting a target on the face of the judge, lying to the judge, lying to congress, and yet here in this, we see because of political pressure, they were being the assistant u. S. Attorneys were being asked not to enhance the sentence or make it longer, but rather to lower the sentence, which, you know, heres someone who was showing nothing remorse whatsoever. I see no evidence that any u. S. Attorneys office would somehow lower that sentence. So this concerns me and should really concern every american. I want to read more from what Aaron Zelensky is going to say tomorrow. He is still a prosecutor working in this Justice Department with william barr technically as his boss. Hes going to say tomorrow in his opening remarks, what i heard repeatedly was that roger stone was being treated differently from any other defendant because of his relationship to the president. And congresswoman sherrill, thats what it appeared to be from the outside. But heres someone who is inside saying, yes, thats exactly what it was. Exactly. Which i think we have to really admire this countrys wonderful Public Servants. Here is someone who is a line prosecutor, his boss, the u. S. Attorney, was afraid of the president. He was told by his supervisor, according to this Opening Statement, that, yes, this was unethical and wrong. However, they had to pretty much keep their heads down or they could lose their jobs. And he didnt do that. In fact, all four of the prosecutors, according to this testimony, all four of the prosecutors resigned after their sentencing memo was withdrawn and a new one they felt was incorrect was put forward. I want to take you to the strange situation that developed with the u. S. Attorney in manhattan over the weekend. I had to learn a lot of things quickly that i didnt know about before, which was that a u. S. Attorney appointed by the District Court judges in that district cannot be fired by the attorney general, which seems to be something the attorney general didnt know. But the u. S. Attorney knew. And so he refused to leave when the attorney general tried to fire him. And then that the president could fire him. Once that was all exposed, the attorney general and the president had no choice apparently but to leave in place the deputy u. S. Attorney, which is the normal successor when the office is vacated that way, and we have reason to believe that she will carry on what Geoffrey Berman was working on there. But that was a very, very dramatic 24 hours where it was very hard to tell what was happening next, but it seems very clear this is another case of very willful political interference with some objective to protect someone in trump world, and possibly donald trump himself. It was very, very weird and difficult to understand. You have the attorney general on a friday night putting out a statement that u. S. Attorney berman had resigned. Berman said the first he heard about that was the statement. He had no intention of resigning. Then he made a statement that, again, i think points to the concerns about political influence in our u. S. Attorneys offices across the country. He said he was worried, he wanted to make sure the investigations continued unimpeded. And so that says to me that he was concerned that there was some political maneuvering here as many of us are now concerned. So it was very odd and then to have the attorney general say the president said you have to leave and the president saying no, i didnt say that. Very, very odd. Were you as impressed as i was with the way Jeffrey Berman handled it, and he actually managed to win 24 hours into this story and get the successor he wanted in place taking over for him . Not the successor he wanted just because he was playing political favorites, but the successor he wanted to ensure the integrity of his investigations. So yes, i was impressed with him, as you said. And again, you know, as i have seen so many of our Public Servants come forward and protect this country, protect the institutions of our democracy, protect our values, ive become more and more proud of our Public Servants. Congresswoman sherrill of new jersey, thank you very much for joining us tonight. We really appreciate it. Thanks so much for having me. Thank you. When we come back, voters in kentucky and elsewhere went to the polls today. To, among other things, choose a democratic nominee for senate to run against Mitch Mcconnell in november. Well get the latest from steve kornacki, next. Hey, can i. Hold on one second. Sure. Okay. Okay safe drivers save 40 guys guys check it out. Safe drivers save 40 safe drivers save 40 safe drivers save 40 thats safe drivers save 40 . It is, thats safe drivers save 40 . Hes right there. Its him hes here. Hes right here. Hi hi. Hey thats totally him. Its him thats totally the guy. Safe drivers do save 40 . Click or call for a quote today. And ask your doctor about biktarvy. Biktarvy is a complete, onepill, onceaday treatment used for hiv in certain adults. Its not a cure, but with one small pill, biktarvy fights hiv to help you get to and stay undetectable. Thats when the amount of virus is so low it cannot be measured by a lab test. Research shows people who take hiv treatment every day and get to and stay undetectable can no longer transmit hiv through sex. Serious side effects can occur, including kidney problems and kidney failure. Rare, lifethreatening side effects include a buildup of lactic acid and liver problems. Do not take biktarvy if you take dofetilide or rifampin. Tell your doctor about all the medicines and supplements you take, if you are pregnant or breastfeeding, or if you have kidney or liver problems, including hepatitis. If you have hepatitis b, do not stop taking biktarvy without talking to your doctor. Common side effects were diarrhea, nausea, and headache. If youre living with hiv, keep loving who you are. And ask your doctor if biktarvy is right for you. As polling places in kentucky are about to close at 6 00 p. M. Today, voters were running through the parking lot to get in line where the doors were locked at 6 00 p. M. They then banged on those doors, begging to be let in. Jefferson county, which includes the city of louisville, had just one polling location for more than 616,000 voters, and an Emergency Court injunction then extended voting at that location for 30 more minutes. Earlier today, nbcs Shaquille Brewster reported that voters were waiting over 30 minutes just to park their cars at that one polling place. Joining us now is msnbc National Political correspondent steve kornacki. Steve, what can you tell us as of this hour . I can tell you a little, and you can see it right here on your screen. These are the results we have right now from kentucky. It is not a lot. Amy mcgrath, though, in the votes that have been released so far, narrowly ahead of charles booker. You see, 4440. When i say not a lot, 22,000, 20,000, a little less down here. South of 50,000 votes be been counted. So a long way to go. What you have here are some counties in this state, and some precincts in some counties in the state decided to release the vote that they received today that people went out and cast in person today. A lot more of the vote in kentucky, though, was cast by mail. Days ago, weeks ago, or was thrown into the mail just today and can still count if it comes in, in the next couple of days. So we may get some more results from some of these counties overnight into tomorrow in terms of what was cast today. Then we may wait a week for more to come in. Just to let you know, louisville, biggest city in the state, biggest county, a quarter of the vote in this county right here, also lexington. Theres only a couple of precincts in lexington. These two counties are about 35 of the vote. They may be the ball game for booker and basically we dont have any votes in in those counties yet, and we may not for a while. Quickly, lawrence, there is one other big story brewing here. New york, 16th congressional district. Eliot engel is a democratic congressman elected in 1988. This is incomplete. A big county in the district were still waiting on. But in the results that are in, his challenger, jamaal bowman, with a big early lead on eliot engel. That would be an alexandria ocasiocortezlike upset if that one comes through that way. Steve kornacki, thank you very much for that report. Really appreciate it. Sure. When we come back, the team is back. Barack obama and joe biden running again, this time with joe biden as the candidate for president and president obama as the campaign supporter. Thats next. Liberty mutual customizes your car insurance, so you only pay for what you need. I wish i could shake your hand. Granted. Only pay for what you need. Liberty. Liberty. Liberty. Liberty. For spending a perfectly reasonable amount of time on the couch with tacos from grubhub . 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We have this unique chance to translate a growing awareness of injustice in this society into actual legislation and institutional change that can make a difference in peoples lives. And those moments dont come that often. That was president barack obama tonight participating in his first fundraiser for joe bidens campaign. More than 175,000 people were actually able to attend the event without risking their lives because it was held online. The Biden Campaign raised over 11 million today. A National Poll released today by Harvard University and harris polling gives joe biden a 12point lead over donald trump, 5644. And joining our discussion now is zerlina maxwell. She is the senior director for progressive programming at sirius xm radio. She is the author of the upcoming book, the end of white politics how to heal our liberal divide. Shes an msnbc political analyst. Zerlina, i want to give barack obama one more chance to make one more point before we jump into this discussion, and lets listen to what he said kind of in reaction to polls showing joe biden with a 12point lead. He doesnt want people to take that for granted. Lets listen to this. We cant be complacent or smug or sense that somehow its so obvious that this president hasnt done a good job because, look, he won once. And it wasnt like we didnt have a good clue as to how he was going to operate the last time. And obviously we have more evidence that its not working out real good. But it still means we got to do some serious work. Zerlina, it seems its hard to say, but if these polls keep coming in this way with joe biden at 56, i mean, 5644 is a devastating poll for the trump campaign. But donald trump remains the energizer of the vote, doesnt he . I mean, the complacency would depend on people relaxing and going, eh, i dont care that much about going out there and voting against donald trump. I think that the trick here is to both excite the Democratic Base and get them behind joe biden and whoever he picks to be his Vice President ial nominee and also ensure that they have access to the ballot. So any polling that puts joe biden up, thats good news of course because that means that his campaign is doing whats necessary to get enough support to win the election in the popular vote. But as we learned in 2016, lawrence, its not the popular vote that decides who the president is. Its the electoral college. So those statebystate polls, we should be looking at those very closely but also ensuring state by state that voter access, absentee balloting, early voting hours and days are extended so that the base of the Democratic Party, which very much needs to get that access that is being taken away intentionally by republicans, mind you, because the base of the Democratic Party is so much bigger than Donald Trumps base. So thats where i think biden needs to focus. And president obama, oh, man, i miss him. I miss sleeping soundly at night and not worrying about the existential threat that is donald trump. That has been true for three years. And now were in a moment where were finally in the home stretch here and we can live in a reality where we have a competent and experienced president at the helm in one of the worst crises. And so what we need to focus on above all is voter access. And zerlina, in terms of fundraising for the campaign, the campaign had a very good day on fundraising, and thats not even counting, because we cant count, we dont know how to count quite yet the Mike Bloomberg input. He has pledged to spend whatever it takes in negative advertising against donald trump to take him down. But all of that, as you say, the more negative it gets for trump, the harder the republicans will be fighting to suppress the vote. Thats exactly right because the numbers are not on their side, lawrence. In my book the end of white politics im basically looking at the data of the american electorate and predicting or pew was predicting that the american electorate will be majority nonwhite by 2045. That means that the democrats have a leg up in terms of who their base is and who they need to turn out. That is critically important. No matter what donald trump does, we need to turn out people we need to turn our people out, we know hes terrible and bad. Were all at home in quarantine. We need the change the person at the top. The way we do that is working every day. We can take nothing for granted. Zerlina maxwell gets tonights last word. Thank you for joining us tonight, zerlina. We really appreciate it. The 11th hour with Brian Williams starts now. And good evening once again. Day 1,251 of the trump administration. 133 days now remain until the president ial election. As our nation grapples with a surge of new coronavir